Maple Leafs Win Three Straight: Breaking Down Their Turnaround

Maple Leafs Win Three Straight: Breaking Down Their Turnaround

[Music] It’s Friday. Let’s have a good one. Pierre Kyle and Dan and Pierre Maguire, when the Toronto Maple Leafs embarked on their just completed road trip, you said this trip will make or break their season. And boy, it did not break it as they end it winning three straight. I think it made their season. I think they’re back on track. Dan and Kyle, good to visit with both of you. The truth of the matter is they had a potential of winning 12 points. They won eight out of 12, but they’ve really put themselves back on track with the way they’re playing. If you look at the line of McMahon and Joshua and Roy Roa, that line’s been fantastic. If you look at moving Brian McCabe from the right side, or sorry, moving McCabe over, Brian McCabe, dating myself, moving McCabe over from the right to the left side. Um, uh, and putting Troy Ster there, I think it’s really important because Jake looks so much more comfortable playing the left than on the right. So, there’s a lot going on here. And the slotting we’ve talked about, Kyle and I have talked about it a lot over the course of the last year or a bit. And Dan, the truth is when you see Scotty Lton playing in the four hole, when you see uh, Rwah playing in the three-hole, Tiveras in the two- hole, and and Matthews in the one hole, now you’re slotted. Now you’re starting to see guys start to accelerate the pace of their game. I think the Leafs are heading in the right direction. I think Montreal is in big trouble on Saturday night in Toronto. Pierre, is it fair to say too that not only have they started to write the ship, but the way they’re doing it and being clearly the better team on the ice playing full three periods of hockey? That’s like another step on in writing the errors of the season so far. I love how physical they’ve been. I love how they’re not taking penalties at key times in games. I like the shot blocking component that you’re alluding to, Kyle. There’s a lot that is going on with this team right now that’s really important. Now, one caveat to all this, I’m worried about the depth and goal. I think Dan is, I think you are, Kyle. I think the fan base is, and I’m sure the coaching staff and Brad true living are, especially after the Joe Wall um not coming back in the third period last night in Carolina. So, that’s something that’s got to get addressed. I don’t think they can fill the void internally, Dan. I think they’re going to have if if it’s a long-term situation with the wall, I think they’re going to have to go outside the organization and find somebody. And Stard is no closer. That’s correct. So, who’s going to even back up on uh Saturday night? They’ll bring somebody up from the American Hockey League. It’s not going to be easy, but that’s just how it works. I mean, next man up mentality, but that’s why I’m saying I think internally they’re going to have to look outside the organization to try to find somebody. Ebug an Ebug game. No, no Ebugs. You know when that happened, Pier? I told the story to David Ays uh when he came into the studio the day after. I wrote a story as a kid how I was in the stands and they needed a goalie and I got to play for the Leafs because they made the announcement. And I’m like, you lived a story I wrote. That’s good. Uh Pierre, this is uh Gary Bman’s dream come true. If you look at the standings in the East and West, there is no team out of it right now. No, but you’re seeing some teams starting to trend the wrong way. Oh, I know it’s smok and mirrors, but it’s it’s exactly why they do it this way. No, I think it’s great. And that’s one, you know, you hear this all the time, Kyle and Dan. What about three points for a regulation win? What about two points for a ra an overtime win and no points in an overtime shootout or or shootout loss? And the truth is they can’t put that in because if they ever did the standings would become so broad that you’d lose a lot of teams by January 1st. So I think this is actually the better system because it keeps everybody involved and engaged. The one team I think that needs to be concerned and it’s not because they’re a bad team. I feel bad saying this. I know Leaf fans don’t care. The Florida Panthers have been decimated by injury. They’ve just been absolutely mutilated by injury. They lose last night um in overtime on a Stamp Coast winning goal uh against Nashville. And I’ve watched almost every one of their games this year and you can just see there’s been a steady decline only because of injury and no other reason. Pierre, it’s easy to see this entire team playing better as a whole, but there’s a lot of individual things we’re seeing on the ice right now. I’d like to get your comment on Matthew N because it seems to me like the goal he scored last night delivered on all of the promise he does. He delivers or he could deliver as a player when they resigned him. If you watch the way his stick positioning is and his defensive zone coverage on that goal, Kyle, number one. Number two, watch him win the race against Shane Gospare. Gospar’s a real good skater. Watch Gosspear drop his stick because he knows he can’t handle him. He doesn’t want to take a penalty. And then if you watch him beat Sebastian to the net and go on the backhand, that’s exactly what you’re alluding to. I thought it was a thing of beauty. Matthew N is a legit power forward in the game. He’s a critically important player for this team. And uh the other one I want to say is, you know, we see the doy to Matthews goal. Yeah. Go watch go watch what Matthew N does in that position. So I’m just saying you’re right. Matthew N is coming and this is what I expected. I don’t know if it’ll be enough to get him on Team USA for the Olympics, but they got to have him in their sights. He’s got to be considered basing the way he’s starting to really explode up the ice. How are you viewing Austin Matthews? He’s uh the injury is uh in the rear view mirror. Everything’s back on track. Four game point streak. Better. Much better. Getting pucks on goal, moving his feet more, becoming more of a 200 foot player. I still think that he’s not releasing the puck as well as we’re used to seeing, but definitely uh accelerating the pace of his development. Let’s put it that way. Scott Lton, I know you got something to say about him. He’s also scored in back-to-back games. Excuse me. Because he scores from all those tough areas. He kind of reminds me of a guy from Hamilton, you know, big burly guy like Kyle Andrews. You know, you get in there, you mess it up, you mess people’s hair up, you do all kinds of stuff. That’s what Scott Lton’s good at, Kyle. He’s You know what? I love the way he brings a little bit of the fight to everybody. He He’s not a shy guy and he can be trusted in every situation. Faceoffs, penalty kill, shut down, kill the clock, get some big goals when you have to. This is more of the player Dan and Kyle. I was expecting Toronto get last year when they came from Philadelphia. He was really underwhelming last year. I think he’d be the first person to admit that. But now he’s starting to be that really good depth player that Toronto was expecting when they got him. You mentioned Montreal Saturday night. Leafs habs Saturday night in Canada. Hockey night in Canada. There’s just it just gives you goosebumps. I can’t wait to watch it. You know, I live down south and I got a bunch of my buddies coming over to watch that game. So, they’re usually watching SEC football, but they’ll be watching Toronto and uh they’ll be watching Toronto and Montreal on Saturday night. I I think the biggest thing Montreal’s back on track. Big question marks a little like Toronto about their goalending, but watching every single Montreal game. Here’s the one thing that really stands out. Lane Hudson’s a superstar player. He really is. Nick Suzuki is an amazing player and he drives this line with Slavoski and Cfield to whole other levels and they got Jake Evans playing guilty because Jake has not had a great start to the year but now he’s starting to round into form and you play him with Gallagher and Anderson that line’s a really tough line to play against. So their slot slotting starting to become a little bit better. And the last point on Montreal is if you turn it into a street fight, they don’t thrive. They don’t. They have a hard time with those kinds of teams, Dan. But if you try to make it into a skillfest and a drag race, you’ll probably lose to them. Pierre, you see on the upcoming Maple Leaf schedule, the San Jose Sharks will be in town, and it’s the first time we’re going to see Mlin Celibbrini against the Leafs on uh what presumably will be some prime time television. Where is he standing right now with the likelihood of making this Team Canada roster going into the Olympics? He should be standing really well. He and Connor Bernard are making it unbelievably difficult. There’ll be some guys from last year’s Four Nations, Kyle, that will not be on the team. And part of it will be because of the play of Tom Wilson. Part of it will be because of the play of Mlin Celibbrini. Part of it will be because of the play of Nick Suzuki and Mark Schiffley. That’ll be an interesting race. And part of it will be because of what you just talked about with Connor Bddard. There there’s a lot going on there with all those players. And they can’t let everybody go from the four nations, don’t get me wrong, but there’s some guys there should be some trepidation. One guy that a lot of people thought might switch one way or the other, Brandon Hegel, I think he’s solidifying his spot on the team every single day. I I’ve been watching Tampa. It’s amazing. I know they lost last night to Pittsburgh. It’s amazing that they they’re back in the race and they’re actually in a playoff position. If you look at all the injuries, Hegel’s been a key component for them. But those kids, Dan, that Kyle was talking about. Celibbrini and and uh Bernard uh or Bard, excuse me. Those guys have legitimate chances to make the team. Are we even going to have NHLers at the Olympics? Because the arena’s still not done and this is getting into the territory where owners. They said, “Okay, this this is what we’re talking about. There’s potential for injury if the arena’s not done. They’re going to finish it halfaphazardly if they do get it run done. The dimensions aren’t right. This just red flags everywhere. 100%. This is unbelievable. And I’ve made this statement before and I’d hate to see anybody lose their job. You know, if you’ve lost your job, you know what I’m talking about. Somebody from the IOC needs to be held accountable. Somebody from the organizi organizing committee needs to be held accountable. Whomever was doing the due diligence for the league needs to be held accountable. And to me, if I’m an owner in the NHL and I’m putting major assets into this, I want to know what the heck went wrong. Th this is unacceptable. Completely and utterly unacceptable. Um, and this is my message to the IOC, to the organizing committee in Milan, and to the double IHF. Don’t mess around with Gary Bman and Bill Dailyaly. The last time people tried to mess around with them was 2004, 2005. It was called the nuclear winter. Trust me when I tell you, if they say they might do something, they’re not playing word games. They’ll do it. They’ll do it. I’m just telling you, they’ll shut it right down. So, this they better get something fixed here and they better get it fixed quick. Given that this is one of the marquee events of the Winter Olympics, always has been, always will be, especially with the NHLers playing. Can they not just move this to Switzerland and France and just call it a day? I that’s what I I talked about. I looked at all the different arenas. How about you could put it in Germany? I’m not sure they want to do that, but you can go to Ice Baron Berlin. You can go to Manheim. I’m telling you, these are all adjustable rinks. You can go from international to smaller ice. Uh you can go to Bolzano, Italy. I’ve been there for the World Championships in 1994. It’s a beautiful rink. Holds 8,000 people. You can go to Zurich. You can go to Geneva. Like, there are a lot of options. To Kyle’s point, Dan, very, very close. I don’t know why they haven’t decided to do that and just put everybody at ease. They’ll say to you, “Well, we have all these people coming from outside the country and they’ve bought tickets to this and hotel rooms to that.” And I understand there’s still got to be a way to fix it. And Dan, you were there with me. We were teammates. Kyle, we weren’t working together yet. In 2010, this is an important number for everybody at home to wrap their head around. In 2010 at the Olympic venue for hockey, they took out 150 million $150 million. Do you know how much the NHL got? Zero. You know how much the NHLPA got? Zero. Do you know how much any of the owners got for insurance costs? Zero. Now they Now they were wondering the IOC, why aren’t you sending NHL players? because after 2014 they said enough’s enough. Enough’s enough. Uh what in your gut is the percentage or the odds that NHL players will be there? I think 75 to 80% that they’ll go. I’m more optimistic than pessimistic. And maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part, Dan. But this is too important for the league. They’ve opened up an office now in Switzerland. They want to grow the footprint of the game. They see what the NBA’s done in China. They see what the NBA’s done in Europe. They see what the NBA’s done in India and Australia. And I think they’re saying, you know what, we got to kind of jump on this. And the one place where you can maybe beat the NBA is in Europe. And so I think right if you put the Olympics in the central part of Europe, which is kind of where Milan is, and you play it, I think it helps the league. And I think that’s why I’m more optimistic than pessimistic. Dan, it’s time to play the game. Oh boy. Okay, we’re going to play one degree of Pierre Maguire where I turn around, point to a card, and we see if uh you know this player or have a connection. That’s a team card. So, I’ll go to the one right next to it. Jeff Cortnell. Oh, boy. Could skate, he could score, he could finish. Um played with all kinds of intensity. Watched him play in so many different venues. I coached against him when he was a player. Um, biggest thing I can say is that uh he was a free spirit. He played on his terms and he brought it every single day. Um, I know he’s a proud guy from Victoria, BC and Yeah. No, he brought he was a good player. He’s a good player. He sure was. The team was uh the St. Louis Blues. I What year? What vintage? Uh, don’t know. I see number 21 Brown in the lineup on this car. Jeff Brown. Jeff Brown would be that Brown you’re alluding to. Yeah. So, uh I’m we know you have got a connection to the St. Louis Blues, so you don’t have to divulge. Uh Pierre, we thank you. Thanks, Pier. See you, boys. See you. Uh so, uh the Toronto Blue Jays, they continue to make headlines. Uh they had a visitor recently, Kyle. Kyle Tucker showed up short drive from Tampa Bay, his home, to visit them in their spring training facility in Dun Eden. And Dan, I just want to say, and I’m sure you’re in the same boat right here, I love this off season for the Blue Jays. I love that they’re at the top of the new cycle all the time. I like that they took this momentum where they were this close to winning the World Series and have just carried it in. This is exciting. I do not ever remember a more exciting off season for the Toronto Blue Jays. and they learned their lesson with Shohei. They were used as a bargaining chip, so they they won’t make the same mistake this time. They’re like, “We know he’s using us to get more money from other people, but we know how to fix that and instead of just being used, take it over to the next level and actually acquire them.” Because the show thing, it left a lot of scars and a lot of hurt feelings. And let’s be realistic about it, too. Show probably at the time made the correct decision for his own career and likelihood of winning a World Series. The Jays were still a few years away from being the threat they are now, but they have that as a bargaining chip at this point. Hey, we were this close to winning the World Series against the mighty Dodgers last year. We were the cream of the crop in all of these different categories. Come make us even better. They didn’t have that when they were uh going for Joey. They had a good roster, but not one that had demonstrated their ability to be great yet like this one. And in case you um were just over the Blue Jays losing game seven to the Dodgers, we open that wound back up uh as I talked to Kevin Polar, uh that is out today. And we go deep on the IKF lead at we even go deep on the should he have slid or not at home. So he’s got Kevin Polar has some great takes because he was at field level when that happened. What are the chances that they trade Jose Bereios? What do you think? I think pretty good because um well he was the odd man out in the postseason and um I think that was the writing on the wall right there. And the the moves that they’ve made with pitching so far this off season, they just need to find a taker. But they’ve kind of painted themselves in a corner because other teams see like, well, you got no use for this guy. Yeah. Yeah. You guys didn’t need him to get that far to the playoffs or nearly win the World Series. So, they maybe reduced his value a little bit there. But, I still think he’s pretty valuable on the trade market. Maybe it’s part of a package. I don’t know. Someone needs what he can bring more than the Jays do. Clearly, did you see in the Thursday nighter we uh pointed out with Todd Ferman, the uh the total was 55 a half. The Lions won 44-30. They almost hit the over themselves. It was crazy, Dan. I actually did not see the end of the game. Uh, but it was the shootout everyone expected. And my prediction that Dak Prescott would emerge as the front runner for MVP and we could have taken him early at those big odds. Well, that didn’t really happen, did it? So, the Lions kind of saved their season in a way. Uh, they needed that win last night. Man, those two teams, that’s an exciting brand of football. always huge second half because there wasn’t that many points in the first. I kind of wish I didn’t miss it. Uh we have another big one on Sunday. Bills and Bengals. Bills favored by five and a half. They’re at home. Big total on that one. 53 and a half. Who you taking? I’m going to ride with Buffalo here, but Cincinnati’s a threat again now with Burrow being back. I was surprised to see Darius Slay get claimed off waiverss this week and declined and is instead considering retirement. You would figure if his heart was still in it, Buffalo would be a pretty good place to land. And you’d want to ride it out there because in the AFC, they’re as big of a Super Bowl threat as anyone. But man, Dan, I’m having so much trouble predicting what’ll ever happen in this Super Bowl season. I or sorry, in this NFL season, I don’t know who the best team is. I don’t know who’s going to win on a week- toeek basis, but at least it’s exciting. I know I won’t be watching the Dolphins Jets, but yeah, I think we could go over on this Bills Bengals game, too. There won’t be a defensive play in sight. All depending on weather. I haven’t Buffalo. The weather changes from one minute to the next. And they should have a snowageddon approaching at any point if they haven’t got one already. Well, with the amount of snow we’ve had where we are, we always know they get it twofold typically. I don’t know that they’ve been hit the same way as we have, but as you suggest, I mean, I was at that 49ers blizzard game last December in Buffalo, and it was one of the greatest experiences in all of my sporting life. But we were prepared as Canadians. We were in full ski suits, ski goggles, the whole works. Couple of cocktails in us. It was a good time. I don’t know that the Bengals will be prepared for that because last year the Bills absolutely annihilated the 49ers in that weather. So, they clearly are ready. The only event that I prepare and bundle up, I was actually talking to my daughter on the way to school this morning about how many layers I will wear to the Santa Claus parade on Sunday. I’m going with seven layers. Well, you have to do that because you’re going to be standing still for a lot of that, too. I assume you’re not chasing there’s no cheering or anything. No, we were standing up and cheering and doing all that stuff and walking around and watching the various fights in the stands and you know, again, a few drinks in us and it was all pretty good. We actually had to walk back from the hotel uh to the hotel after that game because it is impossible to get an Uber after a Buffalo Bills game because there is one two-lane street leading in and out of that stadium. But luckily for them, they built the new stadium directly across the parking lot from the old one and they have not remedied that problem even slightly. Yeah, build a stadium. If you build a stadium, build new roads. Uh Kyle, have a great weekend. Uh we’ll be back here Monday. [Music]

A successful road trip found the Maple Leafs bouncing back with a three-game winning streak. Dan O’Toole, Pierre McGuire, and Kyle Andrew break down key lineup changes and performances from Matthew Knies.

00:00 Leafs thrive on road trip
02:00 Stolarz showing no progress
03:00 No team out of Eastern Conference race
05:40 Matthews & Laughton playing better
07:20 Leafs back on track
11:00 Olympics update
13:20 One Degree with Pierre McGuire
14:30 Blue Jays & Kyle Tucker
18:00 Bengals vs Bills

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